So, I don’t often pay attention to rumors coming out of El Mayimbe’s mouth because if rumor mongering was baseball, El Mayimbe’s batting average would be way below the Mendoza Line (for those of you who aren’t baseball literate, that means waaaaaaaayyyyyy more misses than hits). But this one is being taken for granted as the truth in more accurate media outlets (like Collider) so we decided to cover it here.

This is what El Mayimbe, a.k.a. Umberto Gonzalez, posted on Instagram yesterday. WARNING! There might be potential spoilers ahead about the Suicide Squad film.

Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it? I mean, Affleck signed a multi-picture deal to play Batman, so you might as well fit him in wherever you can! And Batman is such a cool character that he should be on screen at all times and when he’s not, like here, the other characters should talk about him.

But, as is the norm for El Mayimbe rumors, there flaws in logic that spring from this information. Like:

Batman as boogeyman/urban legend: This sounds good on paper. It really does. But it doesn’t hold up in practice, especially with the Batman we are getting. This is a Batman who has been around the block a few times. He’s had to bust a lot of criminals. Then, deliver said criminals to the police. The fact that he is real has to have gotten around.

The government hates Batman, but is willing to work with him, but why?: Granted, the government has provided aid to and partnered with people and organizations that later turned out to be enemies. It’s become a habit. But wanting to partner with Batman, someone not only whose secret identity presumably they don’t know but who might not even exist just doesn’t make sense. As for the reason?

Batman as the key to tracking down all the supers: This is vaguer than it seems. Track them down how? Find out their identities? Where they live? Is Batman such a great detective that he’s better that the FBI as a whole? Take them down if need be? And how? Even though Batman has been around from between 10 to 20 years, Superman, Wonder Woman and the rest seem to be just making their presence known now. Does the government want him to find the “supers” before they become known?

Joker is the only person who has met or known him: I saved this for last because it makes the lease amount of sense. I mean, even if the government was stupid enough to think that Batman’s psychotic nemesis was the best source of information on him, having Joker be the only person to know or meet him throws a LOT of the Batman mythos out the window. Every other member of the rogues gallery, who would know Batman as well as the Joker? Gone. (And who was Batman fighting all these years? Mobsters? Theives? Jaywalkers?) The Batman Family (Batgirl, Nightwing, etc)? Gone. (And since rumor has it that Batman had one Robin die on him and one currently on the payroll, this doesn’t seem likely). Anybody on the GCPD who might have had a relationship with Batman? Gone. (And, yes, Gordon is supposed to be deceased in this version, but, still. Someone had to collect the perps. Also, this means no Bat Signal either.) Love interests? Gone. If Joker is the best possible source of info on Batman, Batman has changed to such a degree that it is not even recognizable.

A lot of sites are taking the rumor as gospel without doing due diligence. But there are a lot of things that don’t makes sense. Yes, Warners track record with DC properties means that this rumor is still plausible. But I have my doubts.

With comic book films setting records at the box office and remakes being all the rage, it was no surprise that Alex Proyas’ 1994 The Crow would be remade. Where the surprise came in is how hard it was for the remake to actually get done. The film has been in development since 2008, has had no less than three directors and six actors attached to the project, but no positive momentum on the film. However, all of that might have changed.

James O’Barr, creator of The Crow comic book and consultant on the film, was at the Lexington Comic and Toy Convention this past weekend. On Saturday, he hosted a Crow Q&A session, and he gave the crowd some scoop.

O’Barr stated that Boardwalk Empire‘s Jack Huston has been cast as the lead, Eric Draven. If this is true, then Jack Huston follows in the steps of Bradley Cooper and Luke Evans, both who where linked to the role but left after production delays caused conflicts with other films. Both have gone on to greater success after leaving the project, Cooper to Oscar Nomination glory and Evans to genre film stardom, so Huston has that to look forward to if all of this does not pan out.

This is not the first dance Huston has had with comic book movie stardom. He signed a test deal with Marvel back in 2012 for Guardians of the Galaxy, supposedly testing for the role of Peter Quill. The role eventually went to Chris Pratt.

The Crow creator also said that Downton Abbey’s Jessica Brown Findlay has been cast as Draven’s true love, Shelley. Brown Findlay left the popular British drama in 2012, attempting to strike out in a film career. She has appeared in last year’s Winter’s Tale and Lullaby.

O’Barr also said the the film will skew closer to the comic than the 1994 original and the special effects will be done in a more conventional fashion rather than in CGI. He also said that the film will be shot at Pinewood Studios in Wales and in Belgium starting this Spring. The film shooting at Pinewood Studios location was later confirmed Welsh First Minister Carwyn Jones. This location is convenient as Hutson is Welsh and Brown Findlay British.

The Wrap’s Jeff Sneider told the Meet the Movie Press podcast that his sources tell them that Sony is seriously considering making the new Spider-Man a non-white actor, going so much as to say that there is a 95% chance that the role will be portrayed by a black or Latino actor. Sneider then went on to clarify that even though Marvel has a Black Hispanic Spider-Man named Miles Morales, seen above, that Sony might not be using that version of Spider-Man, instead recasting Peter Parker as a different ethnicity.

Of course, this has thrown Spider-Man fans into a tizzy, and the have been vocal griping about the potential change. This inspired current writer of the Spider-Man comics, Dan Slott, to go on Twitter to defend the casting of of a Black Spider-Man.

I have no idea if this rumor is true or not–Sneider is usually a good source of information, but even he admits the rumor hasn’t been confirmed–so I am mostly taking a wait and see aspect on this. But I would hope that this will not turn out to be a superficial, cosmetic change and Sony decides to go deeper and hire a black or Latino writer and a black or Latino director to do an informed look at what it really would be like for a black or Latino teenager to get the Spider-Man powers.

It was a rumor that was confirmed by a set of leaked e-mails. Now it has finally become officially. Marvel has Spider-Man back. Well, at least a share of him back.

Marvel.com broke the news that Marvel Studios and Sony Pictures have entered into an agreement to “bring Marvel Studios into the world of Spider-Man,” as the press release puts it.

What this means that sometime between now and July of 2017, Spider-Man will be appearing in a Marvel Studios film. Sony will then release their next Spider-Man film on July 28, 2017. That film will be co-produced former Sony head Amy Pascal, Kevin Feige, and Marvel. There is a chance that members of the Marvel Cinematic Universe will be appearing in that film as well. Sony will finance, distribute and own the film, and have final creative say.

The press release calls this a new creative direction for the hero. As anyone who has read the leaked Sony e-mails knows, Marvel wants a teen aged Spider-Man to work with. Reading between the lines, you can probably call the Andrew Garfield era of Spider-Man over, since Garfield, at 31, is starting to get way too old to play a teen.

The Sony e-mails made it clear that Marvel wanted Spidey for Captain America: Civil War. Whether this remains true or not, or we will see Spidey in another Marvel film down the line, is something that we will surely find out as the days and weeks pass.

This seems like a win-win for Sony. They get Marvel, the studios that made a hit out of a talking raccoon and tree tandem, to work their magic on Spider-Man, and they get keep of the profits. While I didn’t think the Garfield-era was as bad as most people thought it was (although I will say it was frustratingly flawed), Spider-Man is a character that deserves to be done right. Now it might finally be done right.

Now, if only we can have a little bit of Glasnost between Fox and Marvel for a similar arrangement to be made, I’d be a happy Comic Book Movie Editor!

Luke Evans has dropped out of Relativity’s new adaptation of the comic book The Crow. The Wrap received confirmation of the actor’s departure from his publicist, citing that Evans was looking to pursue other projects.

This follows remarks Evans made last month while doing the press rounds for the last Hobbit film that he probably wouldn’t be doing the film. It is possible that the continued delays in getting the project in front of cameras is what lead Evans to drop out. Evans signed onto the film when F. Javier Gutiérrez was still attached to direct. Corin Hardy signed onto to direct in early December after Gutiérrez dropped out of the project.

Hardy is reported to begin his search for a replacement in earnest after he finishes with the duties related to the premier of his debut feature The Hallow at the Sundance Film Festival this week.

Evan’s departure marks yet another person who has been attached to the film since the remake was announced in 2008. Previously, Bradley Cooper and Tom Hiddleston were booth mooted to take part.

James O’Barr’s iconic 1989 miniseries about the spirit of a musician who returns from the afterlife to wreck vengeance on the criminals who killed him and his fiancee was previously brought to the big screen by director Alex Proyas and starred Brandon Lee.

That image above should give you some idea where we are going with this.

So, Latino Review is at it again, giving us the inside information on how Marvel Studios’ Phase III will pan out. Last time it was El Mayimbe saying two years ago that Phase II and Phase III will play into a huge Planet Hulk arc. That turned out to be almost completely untrue. Now, it’s Da7e‘s turn at bat, hoping to make up for El Mayimbe’s whiff and hit a home run where Marvel spoilers are concerned.

While the header image does provide a spoiler, its not a big one considering the source material for future films. Da7e doles out even more spoilers than that, so let me throw this up here again:

Da7e covers a lot of territory, so let me throw it all at you in bullet point format on a film by film basis.

AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON

Captain America will be leading a new batch of Avengers at the end.

Hulk will be shot into space at the end of the film.

These are rumors we have already heard. Whether this is confirmation or just a way to make the rest of the rumors seem more legit is anybody’s guess.

CAPTAIN AMERICA: CIVIL WAR

Howard Stark’s assassination at the hands of the Winter Soldier will be at the center of the conflict between Steve and Tony.

Da7e does not say whether or not the registration plotline from the comics will play a part as well, but it makes a whole lot more sense to go in this direction than having the world’s twelve superhumans have to register. And it continues the Winter Soldier plotline introduced in the first film, which also makes sense.

Tony will become disillusioned and remove himself from society, perhaps by going into space.

I don’t know if Da7e was joking about the going into space part, but he seems to think that Tony will be removing himself from world events after this film.

Black Panther will be introduced.

Which is officially official.

Captain America will be killed by Crossbones.

Cap will be taken of the game board the same way he was “killed” in the comics.

Spider-Man might, might be in this film.

Yes, the time share agreement supposedly is official, and it might have been in time for this film. If not here, then definitely at some point later.

And it won’t be Andrew Garfield or Tobey Maguire playing the character either.

DOCTOR STRANGE

This will introduce the astral plane into film continuity.

Da7e makes a point of bring this up, which I can only assume means Marvel will use it as a way to bring Cap back.

THOR: RAGNAROK

A lot of Asgardians will die in this film.

Which I assume means a number of the name Asgardians (The Warriors Three, Sif, Heimdall, etc) in addition to the rank and file Asgardians.

Some of the Asgardians will be resurrected.

Da7e doesn’t say this, but this might be a good way to replace actors whose contracts are expiring. Just sayin’.

Also it might provide a way to bring back certain Star-Spangled Soldiers that had joined the choir invisible.

Thor will be imprisoned at the end of the film.

By now you should be seeing a trend with Avengers being taken out of circulation.

GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY 2

Like the first film, it will have little to do with the Earthbound Marvel films.

This is the one part that doesn’t make sense, because this would be the perfect place to foreshadow Thanos’ attack on Earth. And why put Hulk and/or Tony in space and not have them meet the Guardians?

BLACK PANTHER

There’s likely to be other Marvel heroes in the film.

Da7e thinks that Doctor Strange is a natural. I’m thinking Ant-Man, since it will be a while since we have seen him.

Another new Avengers team will be formed here.

Perhaps even with Black Panther as the leader.

AVENGERS: THE INFINITY WAR, PART I

No “original” Avengers will be appearing in this film.

Apparently Hawkeye and Black Widow will also be in some kind of exile, joining Thor, Cap, Hulk and Iron Man. Once again, this makes sense, as the stars have signed on for one Avengers film, not two.

However, Spider-Man WILL be in this film.

Da7e says this is a definite, perhaps as a way to garner excitement for an Avengers film with all-new characters as Avengers.

The rest of the line-up is still pending.

Da7e theorizes that the rest of the new Avengers teams could be composed of anybody from the solo characters introduced since Age of Ultron to characters from the forthcoming Inhumans film to characters from the Netflix TV shows.

AVENGERS: THE INFINITY WAR, PART II

The original team comes back.

Yes, Cap becomes undead, Thor is released from prison, Tony finds his smile, and Hulk returns to Earth just in time for this big brouhaha. Which leads me to believe the farm team will screw the pooch in the first film and need to call in the cavalry.

Of course, Da7e presents this in such a way where you don’t know where fact, inside information and pure speculation begin and end, which is really smart on his part. This way, he can claim victory even if one item comes to pass. But it looks like we’ll have to wait four months to see if anything Da7e says is right.

By now, you might have heard about the interview Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn did with The Movie Crypt where he goes into detail about characters that he wanted to use in the film but couldn’t. In case you haven’t, here’s the gist of the comments:

There’s characters that I’ve been interested in that I’m not allowed to use but I won’t go so far as to say I definitely would have had them. There was a really good chance Bug was going to show up in the first movie but we do not own him… but, anyway, that was going to happen, perhaps. Listen, I really love Rom: Spaceknight, as everyone at Marvel knows because they’ve given me Rom stuff… but we don’t own Rom. I would love for Rom: Spaceknight to show up because I love his story, I love the way he looks, I love everything about him…

There are other characters, but basically, some characters we can work around and we can use. Listen, I wanted to use the Badoon, but the Badoon we don’t own… they’re really interesting. They would be like the cannon fodder guys who were like the Sakaaran in my movie… I wrote them as Badoon but I just did a search-replace-Sakaaran when I found out we didn’t have Badoon. It was strangely late in the process when I found that out. They were designed as Badoon.

While Gunn stated that he could use those characters because Marvel didn’t own him, this will cause a number of comic book fans to scratch their head.

Rom would be the only one fans would not have a question with. Rom was a space knight who traveled the universe to track down a vile alien race called the Dire Wraiths. Rom did star in a Marvel Comic book from 1979 to 1986, but Marvel only licensed the character from Parker Brothers, who came out with a Rom the Spaceknight doll, seen to the right. While the toy flopped and the comic book was a hit, Marvel was unable to hold on to the license after the comic book’s run. Rom eventually returned back to Parker Brothers, and the character has never appeared (other than in legally dodging ways) in a Marvel Comic book. This is the reason why the series has never, and likely will never be, reprinted and the character’s crossover appearances in other books face the same fate.

Bug’s ownership is more in doubt. He, like Rom, first appeared in a comic book licensed from a toy company that debuted in 1979. The Micronauts were based on a toy line manufactured by Takara Co. Ltd and was published by Marvel from 1979 to 1984, with a second series, Micronauts: The New Voyages, published from 1984 to 1986. Bug appeared in the first three issues of the original series under the name of Galactic Warrior, which was the name for one of the toys in the line, before being renamed Bug for the remainder of the concept’s time at Marvel.

The character has made a number of appearances after Marvel lost the Micronauts license, including his own one-issue series in 1997 and time as a member of the comic book version of Guardians of the Galaxy.

Brian Cronin over at Comic Should Be Good theorizes that Marvel was still able to use the character because the comic book design was different from the Galactic Warrior toy, so the name change made the character a unique Marvel creation (one of a number in the series, by the way). But perhaps present day Disney lawyers didn’t want to risk having to defend the “name-change-as-form-ownership” in a court of law, and forced Gunn to err on the side of caution.

The Badoon being on the non-use list was puzzling. The scaly alien race existence as a Marvel creation was not in doubt. They didn’t first appear in a toy tie-in, but in an issue of a comic book Marvel own the complete and utter rights to.

However, that comic book was Silver Surfer, Vol. 1, #2. Since the aliens appeared in a comic starring Silver Surfer, and Silver Surfer first appeared in the Fantastic Four comic book, the Badoon’s film rights are apparently owned by 20th Century Fox, who holds the Fantastic Four rights. Yes, even though the aliens have appeared in just about evey comic book and are vital to the creation of the Guardians of the Galaxy (they conquered the Earth and were the enemy the original incarnation of GotG were formed to fight), because they first appeared in a spin-off of the Fantastic Four, Marvel cannot use them. Odds are that Fox won’t use them either.

One of the best things to come out of the Sony Hack was the discovery of Channing Tatum’s unbridled enthusiasm for being an actor. If anyone else crowed about their film’s success like Tatum did about 22 Jump Street, they’d be branded a raging egotist. Tatum comes off as a lovably goof who really enjoys and takes pride in his job.

Taking this into consideration, you can’t really fault him for spoiling the release date of his Gambit film on Facebook:

The announcement means that 2016 is shaping up to be a crowded year for comic book films. Gambit will be Fox’s third comic book film that year, joining Deadpool and X-Men: Apocalypse. The year also marks Warner’s big jump into the shared comic book movie universe with Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad and potentially Sony’s jump into it as well with Sinister Six. In addition, Marvel Studios has its typical two films per year–Captain America: Civil War and Doctor Strange and the sequel to last year’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles reboot will be released. That makes a total of nine films. Yikes.

The press release also announced that Fantastic Four 2 will be moved up from its originally scheduled July 14, 2017 release date and will now come out June 2, 2017. Its spot will be taken by the as-yet-unnamed Planet of the Apes sequel.

2014 was supposed to be a warm up year of sorts, a rest period before the big year of 2015 arrived. After all, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice, Fantastic Four and Ant-Man was supposed to be joining other geek-friendly films such as Jurassic World and Star Wars: The Force Awakens to create one big festival of pop culture magnificence.

However, it would turn out that 2014 would be great in its own right–and 2015 might not be as good as it seemed.

Going into this year, Marvel Studios seemed primed for a stumble, if not an outright fall. While 2013’s Iron Man 3 and Thor: The Dark World were box office successes, creatively they were the weakest of Marvel’s offerings to date. This was troubling because 2014 promised a sequel to a franchise that didn’t light the world on fire with its first installment and featured a character that conventional wisdom said wouldn’t play well overseas and the start of a brand new concept featuring characters all but unknown by the general public, characters that included such silly offerings as a talking raccoon and a sentient tree who could only speak its own name. If Marvel didn’t bring its A game, it could have been in serious trouble.

Well, Marvel brought its A+ game. Captain America: The Winter Soldier was a taught political thriller that doubled its predecessor’s worldwide grosses and changed the landscape of the Marvel film universe forever. And that unproven concept? That was Guardians of the Galaxy, which only became the highest grossing film of the year domestically and the second highest grossing film worldwide (behind the inexplicably popular Transformers: Age of Extinction). And that film’s two breakout stars? You guessed it, the talking raccoon and the walking tree.

But it wasn’t all champagne and roses for Marvel. In May, the studio parted ways with Edgar Wright, the director who had been shepherding the studio’s Ant-Man adaptation for the better part of a decade. The break came after Wright had already cast the film and production was set to begin. This parting of ways was especially shocking considering that the official party line Marvel put out up to that point was that the only reason there would be a Ant-Man film at all was due to Wright’s vision. However, it was Marvel’s fiddling with that vision–including a rewrite done without Wright’s input–was what broke this particular camel’s back.

Wright was replaced as director by Peyton Reed. Reed had shown inventiveness with his breakthrough film, Down With Love, but had become over recent years a journeyman director of sorts, helming films such as The Break-Up and Yes Man. While this might seem like a step down from Wright in a lot of people’s eyes, many others might consider Reed a better choice. With Wright, you might have gotten an inventive take on the character filtered through the eyes of an auteur, albeit one that might not have meshed well with the Marvel Cinematic Universe. With Reed, you have a competent director with an individual style that is malleable enough to bend the way Marvel wants it to bend. Still, in my eyes, Wright’s moving on is a disappointing missed opportunity.

Disney had another hit based on a Marvel comic book, although not one put out by Marvel Studios. Big Hero 6 was based on a Marvel comic, yet the concept was kept in house by Disney Animation. While the creative minds at Marvel had input, Disney want to put their own spin on the boy meets robot tale. The result is a charming film chock-full with more Marvel Comics’ Easter Eggs than you’d find in most Marvel Studios offerings. The film has made over $320 million and counting worldwide, coming close to doubling its production budget back.

Moving onto Marvel properties at other studios, X-Men: Days of Future Past marked a revitalization of Fox’s X-Men license. Bryan Singer returned to the franchise with this film, which came up with the brilliant idea of merging the cast of the original trilogy with the cast of X-Men: First Class in a quasi-adaptation of one of the best stories from the comics. If that wasn’t enough fan service, the film served as a soft reboot of the franchise, removing two of the lesser films of the franchise–X-Men: The Last Stand and X-Men Origins; Wolverine–from film continuity.

The film went on to make over $740 million worldwide and jump started Fox’s efforts of creating a shared universe out of the X-Men universe. Another sequel, X-Men: Apocalypse has been announced, another Wolverine film is in the works, and we might finally see Channing Tatum’s Gambit and Ryan Reynolds’ Deadpool on the big screen.

While Fox is well on its way to building a shared universe with its Marvel license, Sony has had its plans for a similar shared universe with its Spider-Man license, which it announced with films based on Venom and Sinister Six last year, thrown into turmoil over disappointing returns for Amazing Spider-Man 2. And by Sony standards, the film making only three and a half times its production budget worldwide was a disappointment. I still can’t get over that. I’d love to get that much return on any investment I made. For Sony, that is a failure.

Regardless, the studio appeared to go into panic mode over this spanner in the works, with rumors of a spin-off featuring Aunt May, a film focusing on a team of females from the Spidey mythos, and a potential crossover with Marvel Studios being spread around.

But depths of Sony’s desperation truly became known during the Great Sony Hack of 2014. E-mails amongst top executives leaked during the hack showed a studio grasping at any straw that came their way when it came to Spider-Man. The crossover idea with Marvel Studios was confirmed. Inviting Sam Raimi back to take over the franchise was suggested. Another full reboot was offered up by Jeff Robinov, with an older Spidey and an adaptation of Kraven’s Big Hunt being part of it.

The result of all this is a sense of uncertainty of where Sony will be going with the Spider-Man franchise. As of right now, the studio still has Sinister Six scheduled for November 11, 2016. Whether or not that film will see the light of day, or if we will see Spider-Man hanging with Iron Man and Captain America before then, is anybody’s guess.

Warners had a quiet year when it came to comic book films in the theaters–no DC Comics films were released this year–but it more than made up for it when it came to its future plans. First was the scheduling brouhaha over Superman v. Batman. Warners moved it out of 2015 to May 6, 2016. The only problem was, Marvel had a then-unannounced film scheduled for that day. Instead of backing off, Marvel announced that that Captain America 3 would fill that spot. A tense game of chicken developed until Warners blinked and moved its film to March 25th.

While Marvel won that battle, DC scored a major victory in October when Warners announced a series of 10 DC Comics films, coming two a year from 2016 to 2020. Outside of Batman v. Superman, no solo Batman or Superman films were announced. Instead, we get DC’s B-team. Wonder Woman finally gets a film. Green Lantern gets another chance at charming audiences. Little known concepts such as Suicide Squad and Cyborg get films. And Aquaman hits screens only 12 years after it was mocked on Entourage. The rest of the list is made up of the long-rumored Shazam film and the optimistic Justice League and Justice League 2.

In contrast, Marvel’s announcement of their film slate two weeks later seemed a bit anti-climactic. Outside of Captain Marvel, arguably Marvel’s biggest female hero, getting a solo film, there were no big surprises. The Thor and Captain America sequels got subtitles (Ragnarok and Civil War respectively), Doctor Strange and Black Panther finally got official release dates. Long in development The Inhumans gets a slot and the third Avengers film will be broken up into two installments.

2014 proved to be a bad year for Frank Miller. There was 300: Rise of An Empire, the sequel to 300 that was supposed based on a Miller comic called Xerxes, a comic Miller never got around to writing. The filmmakers decided to go on without Miller, focusing on the Greek fighters instead of the Persian leader. International grosses helped the film overcome disappointing domestic grosses to earn three times its budget.

A film that Miller was personally involved with was Sin City: A Dame to Kill For. Miller returned to co-direct the sequel with Robert Rodriguez, and provided an original yarn to fill out the adaptations from his legendary comic series. What should have been an eagerly awaited follow-up was welcomed by lukewarm reaction from critics and an even worse reaction from audiences. The film couldn’t even break the top five in its release weekend, and ended up making $26 million less worldwide than its relatively modest $65 million dollar budget. Can we call Hollywood’s dalliance with Frank Miller’s officially over?

As for the rest of the comic book films, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles followed the Michael Bay formula. Even though Bay only served as producer, the film suffered Bay’s trademark of overcoming a lambasting by critics yet to become a global success. Hercules also became a modest success when international grosses were taken into account. And I, Frankenstein was a disappointment.

As for next year? Well, we won’t have Batman v. Superman, since that has been moved to 2016. Fantastic Four could either be a trainwreck or a risky venture, depending on what leaked plot summary you believe. Kingsman: The Secret Service could become the latest hit adapted from a Mark Millar comic. Marvel should rake in money hand over fist with Avengers: Age of Ultron, and audiences should come to Ant-Man even with the tumultuous backstage drama. All of this will set the stage for the next 6 years of comic book films, much to the chagrin of the medium critics.

Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice promises an Batman we really haven’t seen on screen before–an older, more experienced hero with years of being Batman under his utility belt. While this a fresh take, it also means that a lot of the character’s iconic stories–and supporting characters, apparently, will be lost to the past.

Devin Faraci over at Badass Digest tells us that one of Batman’s supporting characters who will already be dead by the time the film rolls around.

And that character will be Commissioner James Gordon.

Faraci has gotten his hand on a script for the project and states it brings attention to a memorial plaque on a building dedicated to Batman’s partner in fighting crime. Either the script of Faraci does not say how Gordon died, when the killing took place,who did the killing or even if he met his end by being killed.

So what does this mean for the film? Well, Gordon in most cases acts as a counterbalance to Batman, keeping him sane and keeping him respecting the law. With Gordon out of the picture, we might have a Batman more prone to breaking the rules and working against the system and not with it. If they are going the extreme vigilante route with Batman, it would better set up the confrontation with Superman the film’s title promises.